Nixon (Oliver Stone)
Rating: 1.5 Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
I think I'm going to remember 1995 in years to come as the Year of the
Three-Hour Snoozefest. In addition to CASINO and the nearly-three-hour
HEAT, both of which made me long for a fast-forward button (or, better
yet vis-à-vis CASINO, a stop button), there's Stone's ludicrously
overheated NIXON, which, had it been only ten minutes long and devoid of
credits, I would be hailing as a brilliant and devastating Stone parody.
Sadly, it isn't a joke (not the right kind of joke, anyway). What it is
that many critics find so fascinating about this film is utterly beyond
me; Anthony Hopkins' interesting (if ultimately ineffective)
interpretation of Richard Milhous was the only element standing between
me and a 175-minute catnap (the first fifteen minutes had a certain
I-can't-believe-my-eyes charm; every fifteen minutes following was the
same fifteen minutes). A disaster; I now have little hope that Stone,
whose last decent picture was SALVADOR, will ever make a good movie again.